Egg Freezing at 39

[HoneyB2025]

I froze my eggs at 37 didn’t get many eggs and now I am considering it again at 39. Anyone did this at this age or close to this age? And was it worth it?

I didn't but my friend froze her eggs at 40 and did IVF a couple of years later which worked first time for her. Her boy is now two.
Id look into whether freezing embryos is better at this age but either way, id go ahead and do it if you want to be a mum later. There's no better time than the preset

@NewAgeDawningthanks for your response, just to clarify, did your friend freeze embryos at 40? Or just her eggs?

I would be asking a lot of questions about success rates. At 39 the success rate per egg is low so you would ideally need to commit to doing quite a few cycles to get a decent number of eggs if you want any sort of chance of success in the future. It is expensive, medically intrusive, has some risks and needs proper thought. Sure, there are people who have had good outcomes, but an awful lot more who have had disappointment. Don’t be sucked in by a shiny clinic website with pictures of mothers and babies.
Good luck if you do go for it.

Do you know why you didn’t get many at 37? Things are unlikely to be better two years later unless there is a plan of something that could be done differently.

At this point I’d just do IVF and have a child alone - the success rates with eggs at your age is pretty woeful and IVF rates over 40 aren’t much better not really sure what you are waiting for at age 40?

May I ask why are you waiting or delaying having a child?

I agree with above and if you really want a child start ivf now… I had my DD at 39 and I often now feel guilty that when she is 40 I will be 80 or not around

This, why not just use donor sperm ( or a willing friend if you have one) ? Both egg harvest and IVF are horribly invasive with low sucess rates.

IVF doesn't have low success rates, nor is it a waste of time at your age at all. Egg freezing I've never done but heard it's a massive money grabber with mixed results. Friend froze hers at 36, went for IVF at 39, clinic still preferred to do a fresh EC. Also I wouldn't say IVF is that intrusive, it honestly wasn't anywhere near as bad as I expected/feared. Had my EC at 39, now 20 weeks pregnant with our first transfer, due mid August. Will be 40 when it's born. It's all very individual, however as someone mentioned if you didn't have good results a few years back it's doubtful they'd be any better now, although these things do fluctuate.

Do you actually want a child at this point in your life or is it more the pressure like you feel you should.

Hey there , so I'll start by saying my fertility consultant didnt think 39 is old at all to achieve a pregnancy from my eggs. ( im now 40 and pregnant)
I will say tho, that theres a big difference between egg freezing and creating and freezing embryos.
Unfortunately eggs are one cell. They dont freeze well. Regardless what age you freeze them. Theres no guarantee they will survive, but older the eggs , they do deteriorate more. Hence why they do always advise you need alot of frozen eggs. How many do you have frozen?
Embryos on the other hand have a much higher rate of success because theyre not one cell. Fertility clinics usually do advise women at this age to consider freezing embryos if possible. They'll offer you a much higher chance at being able to have a baby.
I would speak to your clinic regarding this.
Kourtney kardashian for example froze 9 A grade eggs and still non of them were viable to use once defrosted.
I think it all comes down to your individual preference. Are you waiting for the one ? Are you open to raising a child alone? Is now not the right time in your career ect ? As im assuming you are wishing to postpone having a child right now.
Personally,
Ive done two rounds at 37 and just before 40. I froze embryos with my partner. I didnt get any freezeable grades at age 37 whereas at 40 I have 2 A grade embryos now frozen. They were screened and i was told that they look fantastic , high implantation scoreits an awful im also currently pregnant.
if I was in your position, id be thinking how much does you want a child one day. Are you single? Its hard to offer advice without knowing your circumstances but if for example, to put it in perspective, if you haven't met the right person and are waiting to create that family life together with your own embryos, how long are you prepared to wait? You may find them tomorrow, but some women do sadly find themselves on the wrong side of 40 when they met the one and by which time its too late, their eggs are told old , thats if they are still making eggs and many rely on donor eggs. Would you be happy to use donor? Or would they have to be genetically your own? Its alot to consider.
now this is entirely my own opinion. If I were a single woman , if I was to do another collection, id absolutely be considering create embryos with a donor, especially considering you already have single eggs to attempt to create embryos at a later date of your choosing. My desire to be a mother would be too strong to risk just freezing eggs alone at this age but I understand for some thats a difficult decision to make but as a woman of this age, it just makes sense. Your egg count is continuously declining. I would make an appointment with a clinic and ask for their advice. Good luck with whatever you decide. Its an awful lot to consider and you need to consider everything thoroughly

My clinic wouldn’t do egg freezing past 35. I think using donor sperm and freezing embryos would have a much better outcome. Freezing eggs is one thing, but thawing them is much another.

I think it depends what you mean by 'low success rates' though?

I know people who thought IVF was basically a sure thing, and if you go into it with that expectation then you would feel shocked and maybe resentful if you'd not known.

And we are all different. I started IVF at 39 and am 29 weeks pregnant now at 41, and I can honestly say IVF was physically and emotionally the most brutal thing I've ever done. It was so much harder on my body that pregnancy (I've had an easy pregnancy so far).

I'm not saying either of those things to scare the OP, and I'd do it all again like a shot, but hopefully it's useful having different perspectives.

FWIW I also would be thinking about freezing embryos, or just TTC with embryos, rather than freezing eggs. For me the bottom line would be that it'd be awful to have frozen eggs or embryos and then found, too late, that actually they weren't viable. I think I would have found that hard psychologically (and I do know people who've had frozen embryos for a sibling round and who found it very hard to cope with the emotions of those embryos not working out, because however much you tell yourself it's possible, it's natural that you think 'oh, I've got one ready and waiting'.